The Parliament passed an amendment bill regarding POCSO Act on Thursday August 2^nd. The bill provides stringent punishment to anyone found guilty of sexual crime against children and death penalty against aggravated sexual assaults.

The bill is an amendment to POCSO Act of 2012 which was passed by Rajya Sabha earlier. The POCSO Act 2019 bill has been passed by Lok Sabha and was a much needed action against sexual crimes against children.

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Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said that 6.2 lakh sexual offenders were listed in the crime list in the national data base. Investigating agencies were tracking these offenders. Irani said the government was working to create 1023 fast track courts under the Nirbhaya fund to provide quick justice in cases of crimes against women.“Eighteen states have come on board to see that these courts are established between 2019-20 and 2020-21,” she said. (as stated in an authentic media source)

75 lakh rupees will be spent in creating infrastructure for each court in these 18 states. When the point of consensual sex was brought up, Smriti said that there will be no exemption which involves children below 18years of age. In the cases of no death penalty for juvenile, the court will in consultation with the Juvenile Justice Board decide if the accused is of adult mind.